"It is so typical of this state's government to not do a damn thing about a law that was voted on and passed by the people of Washington."

Related Content

Could I even call it a building? The Experience Music Project architecture does indeed fit into the "fun house" ambience of the Seattle Center right along with the leftovers from the World's Fair. It's difficult to describe EMP's design image but if visual image can be translated to sound . . . I would choose the word "cacophony."

AUGUST RAMIREZ

VIA E-MAIL

Pricey thrill

"As for the hefty ticket prices, well, they're not all that much more than the cost of an art museum in a major city like New York; a trip to MOMA will set you back a 10-spot," states Richard A. Martin in "E.M.P.What is it?" [6/15]. I am shocked that an admission fee twice as much as a world-class museum in a city whose cost of living exceeds Seattle is considered reasonable. Although it may be difficult for some to comprehend amongst all the recent upscale development in Seattle's downtown area, most individuals in Seattle are not bringing in six figures a month, much less a year. As a lifetime resident of Seattle, I very much enjoy the benefits from living in one of the largest concentrations of wealth this country has ever experienced, and I am thrilled to have a magnificent Frank O. Gehry building blocks from my residence, however, I find the price of admission to be shameful and am thinking twice as long about whether I really need to see the inside of the EMP.

S.L. STAPLETON

SEATTLE

Badass Dategirl

Judy McGuire (Dategirl, June 8) says that because she was raised Catholic it has earned her "the right to Catholic-bash." The question I have is whether this gives former gays the right to gay-bash as well (reparative therapy can produce miracles), or does this exception apply only to Catholics? In the Jewish community such exceptionalism usually goes by the term "self-hating Jew," therefore calling McGuire a self-hating Catholic (as well as a bigot) might fit as well.

McGuire takes delight in discussing how "badass" girls stumble home from a party in front of parishioners on Sunday mornings, "all the while emitting the delicate (and enticing) aroma of semen, cigarettes, and stale beer." Well, badass Judy, we already know more about your life than we'd like to know. Ever think about becoming a White House intern?

WILLIAM A. DONOHUE, PRESIDENT

CATHOLIC LEAGUE FOR RELIGIOUS AND CIVIL RIGHTS

Badass Dategirl indeed

Judy McGuire is correct in calling Roman Catholicism a "repressive, hypocritical religion run by mean-spirited men. . . ." (Dategirl, June 8). Deep within the teachings of the Roman Church is a misogyny so pervasive, so dismissive, so utterly contemptful of women, that any thinking female soul cannot help but abandon the religion at adulthood and perpetually thumb her nose at those who espouse such institutionalized sexism.

The negative effects of Catholicism's sexist influence upon girls should be brought to light. People talk about how horrible it is to be brought up Catholic, and it's all true. But it is doubly true for Catholic girls. Such sanctified, deified sexism is repugnant to me as a woman, and I hope more women like McGuire speak out against the Vatican, the West's own Taliban.

CELIA THAXTER

SEATTLE

Legalize it

Could the reason that many government authorities are holding up the passing of legislation regarding the medical use of marijuana [see "Waiting for medical marijuana," 6/15] be that it is a cheaper alternative than other types of pain medication? As it is, you can check into a hospital and be shot up with as much morphine as your body can stand, under the "supervision" of a highly qualified, highly paid doctor. Of course, when you take into account the cost of morphine, the cost of a hospital stay, etc., I guess medical marijuana might actually prevent some terminally ill people from having all of their money eaten away by medical bills before they die. Not only would that fly in the face of the wishes of the entire medical establishment, but it would also be completely un-American!

SPENCER GRAF

SEATTLE

Reefer madness

It is so typical of this state's government to not do a damn thing about a law that was voted on and passed by the people of Washington [see "Waiting for medical marijuana," 6/15]. Maybe if we had voted no they would have passed it. It is outrageous that we have a new stadium that we of course voted against, then we blow up the Kingdome which we still owe $30-some million on to build a football stadium because god forbid our Mariners share with our Seahawks. But no help for the sick, no sympathy for people that are dying. We voted these people into the office, so now instead of everyone complaining, we need to vote them the hell out!

NIKKI ST. LAURENT

VIA E-MAIL

Sea(war)fair

Regarding Geov Parrish's article "Sweet Home Alabama" [6/15]: A Trident submarine in Seattle? We must be growing tired of the same old destroyers and warplanes.

There will be enough armaments in our fine city to make nations tremble (especially ones we've bombed before). And our sub comes complete with 192 nuclear warheads.

So what's the name of this festive occasion? Is it really SEAFAIR or is it SEAWAR? SEE WAR or WAR FAIR? SEA WARFAIR or SEE WAR FAIR? My mind drifts to visions of those Big Beautiful Blue Angels and 192 nuclear bombs and it becomes clear what we'll be watching. SEE WARFARE!

Thank you for the splendor and the fun and the glory. (Is it gory?) Thanks to you—SEATTLE SEE WARFARE.

GLEN MILNER

SEATTLE

Damn the torpedoes

I've long been amused by Geov (Jeff?) [The former—Eds.] Parrish's fringe left-wing views, but I feel some of his anti-Trident submarine agitprop [Impolitics, "Sweet home Alabama," 6/15] must be corrected.

1. The Trident missile system has never been fired in anger at anyone, so labeling it a 'genocidal weapon' (as Martin Fleck has) is absurd;

2. It's unlikely any intelligent Japanese will be offended by USS Alabama entering port on the anniversary of Hiroshima, as they will be aware that the Trident missile system has, along with other systems in our nuclear deterrent triad, been protecting Japan itself for nearly 50 years. We should be proud of a weapon that helps keep the peace.

3. The inference that we were wrong in bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki is incorrect; even the most hopeful of estimates of American casualties in a likely invasion of Japan in 1945 was 500,000 dead.

Articles like Geov's make it seem the US was the aggressor in WWII; It would be salutary for him (and any Japanese person reading this) to read about Pearl Harbor, the Bataan Death March, the Rape of Nanking. . . .

BRUCE HAZEN

BELLEVUE

Two pathetic losers

Since it debuted, I've always thought "The Culture Bunker" column merely represented the juvenile rantings of two pathetic losers who couldn't get laid or write well. Reading the Cohen and Krugman's sexual fantasies involving female celebrities, I felt, was boring and useless. I have to admit, I was wrong.

Why? This week [6/15], they made the leap from merely treating every woman as a sex object to defending domestic violence. To make light of violence against women, as they did in the case of Betty Friedan, is neither funny nor acceptable. It's two scared little boys, insecure about their own masculinity, trying to prove they're macho by justifying the practice of beating women.

That's where Krugman and Cohen are wrong—just as I was wrong when I assumed that no harm could come from two silly frat boys fantasizing in public about ravishing every women in sight. Follow the psychological: Women exist so I can look at and possibly have sex with them; most of those women are "bitches" and "sluts" (common descriptions in "The Culture Bunker"); therefore, it's no wonder Friedan's husband may have hit his uppity woman. After all, she was getting out of line by questioning her status as a sex object. That reasoning might be conscious or unconscious on the part of the two men writing this insipid tripe— but make no mistake, that's the reasoning involved.

Only one good thing can possibly come out of their stupid, meritless column. Maybe people will start to see the everyday sexism that comes through in their writing for what it is: a contributor to violence against women.

Thanks, chumps, for helping enlighten me. I only hope it's the last thing you get to do in the pages of Seattle Weekly.

JEFF SHAW

BELLINGHAM

Losing the Valley

I'm at a loss as to how SPO (Letters, 6/15) can claim that changing from single family zoning to one that allows up to six-story buildings within a quarter-mile around Rainier Valley light rail stations preserves the character of the neighborhood. When I looked at the overlay zoning area outlined in the handouts I was aghast, scared, and relieved all at once that it stops about 200 feet from my single-family zoned street. (And eats up plenty of others.)

Pretending the hurried pace of this wide-flung rezone and subsequent Redevelopment Plan is "intended" for the "very home grown businesses along Martin Luther King Jr. Way that are being displaced by light rail" is more than simply disingenuous. Just tell it like it is: The Valley isn't growing fast enough on its own and if we lose a couple-five thousand people, half our businesses, and all our character—who cares?

COLLEEN BROWNE

RAINIER VALLEY

Judy stands by

I was the real estate broker who handled the sale of the Biltmore Apartments. Before the sale, I spoke with many people active in preserving affordable housing, including Judy Nicastro. Ms. Nicastro declined to discuss the property with me, saying, "I only work with renters."

After the sale closed, but before her election to the City Council, I again spoke with her. I asked what she would do, if elected, if another opportunity like the Biltmore arose. She said, "I'd insist on rent increase notices being properly given." I pressed her for ideas. Her only response was, "Do you mean like a nonprofit buying it or something?"

There is much that can, should, and is being done to help achieve the goal of making Seattle a welcome home for all. Judy Nicastro on the cover of the Weekly [6/8], standing in front of a building for which she failed to provide leadership at an opportune time, moves us no closer to that goal.